Bought a calf, now she's dying.

smiley girl

Hi All,
We bought some calves from a farmer a few days ago and today we had to bring one to the vet - twisted gut and infections. The vet said he doubted the calf would make it past Monday. We are absolutely gutted, the poor little thing.
I wondered if this is a cost we have to bear or would we have any comeback with the farmer?
Thanks in advance for any help.

IH784man

If he's a genuine farmer and anyway decent he might help you out,if you bought him off a dealer he probably sold it to you knowing it had a twisted gut,I wouldn't bother ringing if it was a dealer

smiley girl

IH784man wrote: »

If he's a genuine farmer and anyway decent he might help you out,if you bought him off a dealer he probably sold it to you knowing it had a twisted gut,I wouldn't bother ringing if it was a dealer

Thanks, he's got a farm but he buys them in and sells them too.

IH784man

What was he like to deal with? What area you from

Base price

smiley girl - I buy a few calves every year normally from the same farmers. We only buy calves that are at least 10 days old. We normally wouldn't have any initial problems as I would be careful about selecting healthy looking calves - no naval issues, weepy eyes, droopy ears, scours etc.
IMO you have no comeback - buyer beware and all that caveat. Having said that if the calf dies and the farmer is a genuine person then I would expect him/her to offer you a replacement type calf at a slightly reduced price. However as far as I know he is not obliged under law to do so.
What age were the calves when you bought them and how long do you have them?

Who2

I'd be thinking he,ll tell you to disappear. Twisted guts aren't an obvious problem so he can't be blamed. Calves are high risk too so I'd say it's not the sellers problem.

greysides

Without knowing the full details of the diagnosis my comment is that a Twisted gut (intusussception or volvulus) is not something one can predict. It's rare and strikes out of the blue. Farmer isn't at fault, just bad luck for you.
Infections...would need to know details but basically I think it's up to you to check before buying but the farmer 'may' have some culpability if he should have known of it.

Ask your vet to show you how to give a calf a quick once-over. As regards hands on, checking the navel is about as far as it goes, the rest would be visual.

greysides

http://agriculture.vic.gov.au/agriculture/dairy/dairy-cattle-health-and-welfare/how-to-recognise-sick-calves

http://extension.psu.edu/animals/dairy/news/2004/daily-health-checks-for-dairy-calves

Base price

greysides wrote: »

http://agriculture.vic.gov.au/agriculture/dairy/dairy-cattle-health-and-welfare/how-to-recognise-sick-calves

http://extension.psu.edu/animals/dairy/news/2004/daily-health-checks-for-dairy-calves

Excellent links greysides.
I doubt I could vocalise what I'm looking for when I feed/check calves. I suppose over the years of rearing them I just know when one is off, iykwim.

smiley girl

Thanks for all your replies.
We have the calves 2 days, they are 4 weeks old. We did all the checks, but as you said the twisted gut isn't visible.
I am in no way placing the blame on the farmer, this is just something that happens.
Please god the calf will survive, it's not nice to see her suffering. The vet gave her all the necessary treatment and now it's just a waiting game and keeping her comfortable.

We spoke to the farmer a few minutes ago, he was really decent. He wants to be kept in the loop with the calf and he said if she does die he will look after us. Whether that means a calf at a reduced price or what I don't know yet.
For now I'm keeping a positive outlook for the calf.

grassroot1

For every gangster there is one decent man/woman

Base price

smiley girl wrote: »

Thanks for all your replies.
We have the calves 2 days, they are 4 weeks old. We did all the checks, but as you said the twisted gut isn't visible.
I am in no way placing the blame on the farmer, this is just something that happens.
Please god the calf will survive, it's not nice to see her suffering. The vet gave her all the necessary treatment and now it's just a waiting game and keeping her comfortable.

We spoke to the farmer a few minutes ago, he was really decent. He wants to be kept in the loop with the calf and he said if she does die he will look after us. Whether that means a calf at a reduced price or what I don't know yet.
For now I'm keeping a positive outlook for the calf.

Best of luck with her. Do you have a heat/infra red lamp to put over her. If not then I have used an electric blanket covered with plastic under a sick calf when our 2 infra red lamps were in use with another sick calves. Are you offering the calf oral hydration or is she receiving fluids IV.

Base price

grassroot1 wrote: »

For every gangster there are a multitude of decent man/woman

FYP

pedigree 6

I had a calf with a twisted gut once.
We brought it to the vet and he gave a muscle relaxant injection? to it.
Then the journey home in the trailer was a bit bumpy.
But it came right after and the vet was giving up on it.
We think the journey home must have shook its stomach back in place.

A twisted gut and infections would be something else though.
Every case is different.

smiley girl

I wanted to update you on my sick calf, after all the great replies and help you all gave me
She is doing much better today. She's bright eyed and drinking her milk herself (from milk feeder). She was even cudding away! She's getting injections, not on IV drips.
Please god tomorrow she will be even better.

By the way, I didn't want to ring the farmer who sold us the calves but I am glad we did now.

grassroot1

Base price wrote: »

FYP

ya thats more like what I was trying to say:D

Wesser

Great!!!!

Stheno

That's great news, fingers crossed it keeps up